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Just got the word from the FAA that President Obama is coming to Boston on Tuesday to help out our small business (NOTAM). As part of Obama’s fundraising visit, flight training operations at suburban Boston airports, including KBED and KOWD, where our flight school operates, are prohibited. So despite the forecast on Tuesday being perfect for flight training (light winds, no rain), our capital investment in 30 aircraft will yield a return of $0, our employees, who are paid by the hour, will earn nothing and pay no payroll taxes, and we’ll still get to pay rent on the office and hangars. As the event costs $5,000 per person, I’m not sure that any of our CFIs will be attending, but Obama  and Nancy Pelosi are giving us private-sector workers an unpaid holiday while the unionized public-sector workers in Boston, e.g., police, get paid double-time for working extra shifts (example cost) and the taxpayers get stuck with the bill.

[Separately, with the federal government set to shut down on March 18th if Congress and Obama don't agree on how to spend all of the money that they are borrowing from future taxpayers, does it make sense for Obama to spend an entire day traveling to a provincial backwater like Boston? Wouldn't it make more sense for Obama to work at his desk during the day and send Air Force One up to Logan Airport, pick up the $5,000 fat-cats, and fly them down to the White House for dinner? The cost to the taxpayers would be considerably reduced, since the White House is already adequately secured and no police overtime would be required. Also, taxpaying businesses in Boston could continue to operate normally.]